One of the things most small businesses worry about is where their next sale is going to come from. If the sales aren’t coming in, the default position is usually, “I need to advertise more!”

You don’t always need to advertise more. What you need, is to understand more about the difference between sales, marketing and advertising. Although interconnected, sales, marketing, advertising are all terms that need exploring because without understanding what these terms mean, you could be putting your efforts in the wrong place.

Sales

A simple definition of sales is the act of selling. It also includes the opportunity to sell and a transfer of products and services for money or credit.

Marketing

A simple definition of marketing is the act of buying or selling in a market. It includes the systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities. It also involves the transfer of goods and services to the consumer or buyer.

Advertising

A simple definition of advertising is the practice of calling the public attention of your products and services to its existing and potential customers usually through paid announcements placed in the newspaper, over radio or television, on billboards or social media.

As you can see, it’s easy to get confused. Let’s explore these differences further.

The difference between advertising and marketing

Imagine marketing is a pie and the piece has been cut into six slices. Half the pie on the left is about choosing the right customers to do business with. It’s where you look to compete in the market and identity your target market. A great way to identify your target market is by creating buyer personas.

The other half of the pie has three large slices and one slice is where you communicate value to your target market. If you remove that slice and cut it into even smaller pieces, you will find a smaller piece of pie called advertising.

All of these elements need to work together to make up the whole pie. Your brand is the name of the pie and selling is where you exchange a slice of pie for money.

Advertising includes the placement of an advertisement in such mediums as:

newspapers

radio

television

billboards

direct mail

internet (including social media)

When you look at a marketing budget, advertising usually takes up most of that budget followed by public relations and market research.

Advertising tells a story designed to attract attention. It’s only one step in the marketing process. The purpose of advertising is to attract new customers in your target market.

Technically advertising is only one way of promoting yourself and your business. Personal networking is a less costly way of promoting your business.

Online marketing

Online marketing is the art and science of selling your products and services over digital networks including both the internet and cellular phone networks.

Creating and maintaining a professional website optimized to search traffic (SEO)

Local website directories where you advertise your business listing and links to your site

Creating a Facebook business page and promoting your products and services

21 Common advertising and marketing terms

When thinking about advertising to grow your sales, it helps to have an understanding of the following most common advertising and marketing terms.

An advertisement is a paid announcement placed in the media

An advertiser is the person or business looking to generate increased sales of their products and services through paid advertising

An advertising message is the message that appears in the media paid for by sponsors

Sponsors are the people who pay for the production of the advertisement and the placement in the media

The media includes both traditional and non-traditional media including newspapers, magazines, television, radio, outdoor signs, websites, social media and any other place where an advertisement can be placed and seen by the intended audience

Placement of an advertisement is the buying a specific spot in print, online or on air.

Branding involves the frequent repetitions of a business name, product name or image in an attempt to capture a place in the consumer’s mind

An infomercial is a television commercial of between 5 minutes to an hour designed to attract the consumer to make an immediate purchase

An advertorial is an article in print media designed to give credibility to your products and services and have the consumer make contact

A client is customer who buys and receives help, service and advice from an advertising professional or advertising agency

An advertising agency is a service that helps client businesses sell their products and services by producing and placing advertising in the media

Free media is information designed to persuade produced by an advertising agency or public relations professional for publicity purposes

Viral marketing is when social media is used to increase brand awareness

Email advertising (spam) is where unsolicited emails are sent in bulk

Niche marketing is where advertising is targeted to a specific demographic

Product placement is where the brand is used in front of an audience without using traditional media – example using an apple computer in a scene from a movie

Guerrilla marketing takes an unusual approach to marketing like a staged encounter in a public place or giveaway products like a car with branding all over it

Celebrity branding where a celebrity is used to endorse a product or service

Interactive marketing is where online media is used to drive consumers towards your products and services by asking them to respond immediately on-screen to an advertisement

Embedded advertising is where marketing messages are placed inside non-advertised products such as a video or news article to direct the reader to branded products and service.

On a final note

Understanding the difference between sales, advertising and marketing allows you to focus your efforts with increased results

In a Nutshell

Sales

A simple definition of sales is the act of selling. It also includes the opportunity to sell and a transfer of products and services for money or credit.

Marketing

A simple definition of marketing is the act of buying or selling in a market. It includes the systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities. It also involves the transfer of goods and services to the consumer or buyer.

Advertising

A simple definition of advertising is the practice of calling the public attention of your products and services to its existing and potential customers usually through paid announcements placed in the newspaper, over radio or television, on billboards or social media.

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Carolyn Landesman

Carolyn (Caro) is an inspirational leader, motivator and founder of Strategez for Success. Caro holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA), is a Certified Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), a Sales Trainer, Business Coach and published Author. She provides easy to follow Strategez to help you achieve your personal, professional and business goals.